Automobile jack



April 1934' r J. L. NEIDLINGER ET AL 53,687

AUTOMOBILE JACK Filed Jan. 30, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet l gnwwl ols (f. L.lYf/DLl/VGEE E. GPHNDMHJ'OIY A ril 3, 1934. J. L. NEIDLINGER ET ALAUTOMOBILE JACK Filed Jan. 30, 1932 5 SheetS -Sheet 2 gnwntotg April1934- J. L. NEIDLINGER ET AL 87 AUTOMOBILE JACK Filed Jan. 30, 1932 3Sheets-Sheet 3 jww/wtoag (J: L. Nf/OL //VGE/E? Patented Apr. 3, 1934UNITED STATES AUTOMOBILE JACK Jacob Lewis Neidlinger, Good Spring, andEdward Grandmason, Joliett, Pa.

Application January 30, 1932, Serial No. 589,924

Claims.

This invention relates to automobile jacks and particularly those jackswhich are permanently mounted on the car as a part thereof and operatedfrom the engine thereof.

One object is to provide a construction in which four jacks are used,one for each wheel and in which the jacks are adapted to be operated bythe usual starting motor.

A further object in this connection is to provide means whereby any onejack of the four jacks mounted upon the car may be operated at the willof the operator.

Another object is to provide means whereby the pinion of the startingmotor is prevented from moving into engagement with the fly wheel whenthe jack operating mechanism is shifted into engagement with themotor.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying'drawings, wherein:'-

Figure 1 is a top plan view of an automobile provided with my improvedjacks;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing theconnections between the operating motor and the jack driving shafts;

Figure 3 is a transverse section through the forward end of the vehicleshowing two of. the jacks and their allied parts;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig ure 3;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5--5 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a longitudinal elevation partly in section of the means forconnecting the jack operating shafts with an ordinary starting motorhaving the Bendix driven In the drawings, we have illustrated a frame 10of a motor car of any suitable construction having the usual front andrear axles designated 12 and 11 respectively, '13 designating the usualstarting motor with the usual Bendix drive. Mounted upon the frame 10adjacent the junction of the frame with the axles are the jack housings14 which are held in place upon the several axles by the usual U-bolts15 which hold the springs of the car in engagement with the axles. Eachhousing 14 has mounted within it the vertically extending jack 16 havingthe usual foot 16a pivoted to the lower end of the shank of the jack.Each jack shank passes loosely through a beveled gear wheel 17, thisbeveled gear wheel being mounted insuitable bearings 18. Attached toeach beveled gear wheel 17 and extending downward therethrough is atubular member or sleeve '19'ca1'rying at its lower end thescrew-threads 20, the shank 16 of the jack being provided with threads21 with which the screw-threads mesh.

Normally, of course, the shank 16 is raised into 1 the verticallyelongated upper portion of the housing 14. The upper end of the shank 16is provided with a collar 25 having engagement with the spline 26carried upon the upper portion'2'7 of the housing, thus preventing thejack shank from rotating.

It will 'be obvious, therefore, that as the gear wheel 17 is rotating inone direction or the other, the sleeve will be rotated and will causethe raising or lowering of the jack, and a spring 22 in the upper end ofthe housing bears against the upper end of the jack shank 16 and forcesthe jack shank downward-into engagement with the screw-threads 20.Extending into opposite housings is a longitudinally shiftable shaft 23carrying at its opposite .ends the loose beveled gear wheels 24whichengage the beveled gear wheels 17.

Y For the purpose of operating the forward and rear shafts'23, we mountupon each of these shafts, the worm wheels 28 and 29, the shafts beingmovable through these worm wheels but being engaged therewith by meansof the splines 23a.

Coactingwith these worm wheels 28 and 29 are the worm shafts 30 and 31,each carrying thereon a worm 32 which engages the corresponding wormwheel 280:. 29. Each of the shafts 30 and 31 has sliding movementthrough the corresponding worm 32 but is splined there to by means ofthe splines 32a. As will be seen from Figure 4, the housing 14 whichencloses the worm is formed opposite each shaft 30 and 31 .with alongitudinally extending chamber 14a into which the corresponding shaft30 or 31 may shift. The shafts 30 and 31 are preferably formed each intwo sections connected by a universal joint 321). This is necessary dueto the fact, as will be later stated, that the shaft sections 30 and 31are driven from a motor mounted upon the body of the car while the worms32 are mounted upon the running gear of the car. It is, therefore,necessary that the shaft sections 30 and 31 should be able to shiftlongitudinally to accommodate the vibrations of the car body withreference to the running gear of the car and this is permitted by thefact that the shaft sections 30 and 31 are slidable through the worms32, but are splined thereto.

All of the beveled gear wheels 24 are loose upon ure 2.

the shafts 23 and the shafts 23 are slidably mounted through the beveledgear wheels 24 and carry clutch teeth 23a coacting with clutch teeth 33on the wheels 24, these clutch teeth being in the form of splines. Thesesplines or clutch teeth are so disposed that when a shaft 23 is shiftedin one direction, the splines or teeth on one end will engage thesplines or clutch teeth on thecorresponding beveled gear wheel 24 onthat end but will be out of engagement with the opposite beveled gearwheel and vice versa. For

the purpose of shifting these shafts longitudinal-- ly to carry theclutch teeth or splines thereon into or out of engagement with theclutch teeth or spl nes 33, we provide (for the forward shaft 23) thebell crank lever 34 and for the rear shaft the bell crank lever 35.These are mounted on tracks extending from the housing 14 and in anyother suitable manner and these bell cranks are reversed with referenceto each other, the arm of one of the bell crank levers extending towardthe :right and the other to the left. These bell crank levers areconnected by links 36 and 37 to a hand operated lever 38 so that byshifting the lever 38 forward or rearward, either. shaft 23 may beshifted into engagement with the teeth 33 of the gear wheels 24.

Operating in connection with the shaft sections and 31 and with a motordesignated generally 13 (which may be the starting motor of the car aswill be more fully hereinafter stated), we provide the two slidingclutch sleeves designated 39 and 40. These sleeves are each internallytoothed or splined at 41 to coact with teeth or splines 42 on the twoshaft sections and teeth or splines 42a on the motor shaft section 13a.When the sleeve 39 is drawn toward the right 'in Figure 2, it will beout of engagement with the teeth 42a on the shaft section 13a but whenshifted toward the left in Figure 2, it will-operativelyengage the motorshaft 13a with the shaft 31.

on its ends engaging with the respective sleeves,

this rod being connected to a lever 44 to which pedals 45 and 46 areconnected, these pedals being disposed on opposite sides of the pivot ofthe lever.

' Opposed springs 43a operate to hold the sleeves 39 and in neutralposition with the motor 13 disconnected from either of the shaftsections 30 or 31. By shifting the lever 44, however, through the meansof the pedals and 46, either one of the shaft sections 30 or 31 may bedriven from the motor and thus power be applied either to the forwardjack operating shaft 23 or to the rearward jack operating shaft 23 andby operating the lever 38, it is obvious that either the right or theleft hand jack operating beveled gears may be operatively connected tothis driving shaft 23. Thus any one of the jacks may be operatedindependently of any other jack.

In Figure 6, we illustrate a somewhat different construction in detailfrom that shown in Fig- In this Figure 13 designates the usual startingmotor as heretofore stated, 48 the armature thereof, 49 the usual shaft,50 the usual spring, 51 the usual pinion having screw-threadedengagement with the shaft 49. This construction is the ordinary .Bendixdrive construction.

The shaft 49 has a tubular extension 52 operat ing through a casting 53carried by the housing of the starting motor. Operating within thistubular or hollow shaft 52 is a shaft section 54. Adjacent to but spacedfrom the inner end of this shaft section 54, the section is providedwith longitudinally extending clutch teeth adapted to engage. withinteriorly projecting clutch teeth 56 on the hollow shaft 52.. When thisshaft section 54 is shifted outward with reference to the tubular shaft52, the teeth 55 will be out of engagement with the teeth 56. When theshaft 54 is shifted a certain distance inward, the teeth 55 engage theteeth 56 and the shaft 49, the shaft section 52 and the shaft section 54all rotate together.

When the shaft 54, however, is shifted still further inward, its teeth55 will escape the teeth 56. The shaft section 54 is shifted by means ofan arm 57 engaging the annular collar 58.

In order to prevent the pinion 51 from moving along the shaft 49 andinto contact with the gear teeth on the fly wheel, we provide a collar59 loose upon the screw-threaded shaft 49 and extending from this collarare rods 60 which engage with the collar 58 and pass through openings inthe casting 53. Thus when the collar 58 is shifted toward the left inFigure 6 by the shipper arm 57, these rods 60 will force the collar 59rearward on the shaft 49 and impede the movement of the pinion 51.

The opposite end of the armature 48 carries a shaft section 61, whichsection is provided with the clutch teeth or splines 62. Looselysurrounding this section 61 is the tubular shaft or sleeve 63 likewiseprovided with splines or teeth 64 adjacent to but spaced from the innerend of the sleeve. This tubular shaft section 63 islikewiselongitudinally shiftable by means of an arm 65 engaging'an annulus orcollar 66. When the tubular shaft 63 is shifted fully inward toward theright in Figure 6, its splines are out of engagement with the splines62. When this tubular shaft 63 is shifted toward the left in Figure 6one step (which carries the splines-55 into en gagement with the splines56,) the splines 64 are still out of engagement with the splines 62, butwhen the'shafts 54 and 63 have been shifted-toward the left stillfurthenthe splines 55 will move out of engagement with the splines 56and thesplines 64 will move into engagement with the splines 62, thearms 57 and 65 being connected by means of an operating rod 67 in turnconnected to the lever 43 to which the pedals 44 are connected aspreviously stated.

It will, therefore, be plain that both of the shiftable shaft sections54 and 63 will be shifted simultaneously and that by moving the rod 67one step to the left, the starting motor will be operatively connectedto the forward axle and by moving the operating rod 67 still further tothe left, the starting motor will be disconnected from the front shaft23 and will be operatively con nected to the rear shaft 23. Of course,the motor is connected up in circuit with the usual battery as showndiagrammatically in the drawings, but instead of merely having theordinary switch 68, there is also provided a reversing switch 69 of anysuitable character so that the starting motor may be reversed in orderto lower the jacks.

Of course, it will be understood that when the clutches formed by thesections 54 and 63 are in neutral position, the starting motor may beoperated in the usual manner to start the car and will be inoperaive asregards the jacks, but that when the starting motor is beingused foroperating the jacks, it is rendered inoperative as regards starting thecar by reason of the fact that the collar 59 prevents it from comingintoenoff its wheel at that corner of the machine.

When the clutches are disconnected, however, then the weight of the carwill cause the reverse movement of the jacks.

In this reverse movement, the springs 22 willbe compressed when the jackshank is shifted to a point where it is nearly completely housed andthese springs 22 will urge the jack downwardso as to bring thescrew-threads of the jack into coincidence with the screw-threads 20 ofthe rotatable sleeve 19. Thus it isnot necessary to reversely rotate theshafts which operate the jacks.

While we have illustrated what we .believe to be the very effectiveforms of our invention, we do not wish'to be limited to the exactdetails thereof, as obviously many changes might be made in thesedetails without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined inthese appended claims.

We claim:

1. Ina motor driven vehicle, forward and rear pairs of jacks, eachhaving a screw-threaded shank, a rotatable element for each jack havingscrew-threaded engagement with the shankthereof, andmeans for rotatingsaid element in a direction to project the jacks including forward andrear, transversely extending jack operating shanks, a motor, manuallycontrolled means for operatively connecting the motor to either the rearor the forward jack operating shaft, and a single manually operablemeans for clutching any one of the jacks to the corresponding jackoperating shaft.

2. In a motor driven vehicle, forward and rear pairs of jacks, eachhaving a screw-threaded shank, a rotatable element for each jack havingscrew-threaded engagement with the shank thereof, the rotatable elementhaving beveled gear teeth, means for rotating said elements in-' cludingforward and rear transversely extending jack operating shafts shiftablein the direction of their length, beveled gear wheels loosely mountedupon the ends of the jack operating shafts and engaging each with one ofthe rotatable, elements, the jack operating shafts and the gear wheelshaving .co-a ting clutch splines whereby when a jack operating shaft isshifted in one direction it will engage one of said gear wheels and whenshifted in the other direction, it will engagetthe opposite gear wheel,a single manually operable means for shifting both ofsaid jack operatingshafts, a motor, and manually controlled means for operativelyconnecting the motor to either the rear or the forward jack operatingshaft.

3. In a motor driven vehicle, forward and rear pairs of jacks, each.having a screw-threaded shank, a rotatable element for each Jack havingscrew-threaded engagement with the shank thereof, the rotatable elementhaving beveled gear teeth, means for rotating said elements in- "cludingforward and rear transversely extending jack operating shafts shiftablein the direction of their length, beveled gear wheels loosely mountedupon the ends of the jack operating shafts and engaging each with one ofthe rotatable elements, the jack operating shafts and the gear wheelshaving coacting clutch splines whereby when a jack operating shaft isshifted in one direction will engage one of said gear wheels and whenshifted in the other direction, it will engage the opposite gear wheel,a single manually operable means for shifting both of said jackoperating shafts, a motor, longitudinally extending shaft sections eachhaving driving connection to one of the transversely extending, shafts,and manually operable clutch meanshtb connect either of said sections tothe motor.

' 4.- In a motor vehicle, a housing mounted upon the axle of the vehicleand open at its lower end, a jack having a threaded shank extendingupward into the housing, the jack being splined to the housing, abeveled gear wheel surroundingthe jack and rotatably supported withinthe housing, and having a cylindrical portion extending downwardtherefrom and formed with screwthreads'engaging the screw-threads of thejack, a-motor'carried on the vehicle, a driving shaft driven therebyentering the jack housing and having a beveled gear engaging with thefirst named beveled gear wheel, and manually operable means foroperatively connecting the last named beveled gear wheel with the shaft.

5. In a motor vehicle, a starting motor having a shaft, and a pinion onthe shaft movable automatically into motor starting position,-forwardand rear transversely extending afts, forward and rear pairs of jacksmounte upon the vehicle, means for operatively connecting the forwardand rear shafts to either of the forward and rear Jacks, operativeconnections between the forward and rear shaft sections and thetransverse shafts, clutch mechanisms whereby the forward and rear shaftsections may be operatively connected to the starting motor,

means automatically preventing a movement of said pinion on the startingmotor to its starting position upon an actuation of saidclutchmechanisms, and. means for energizing the s arting motor to drive iteither forward or reversely.

JACOB LEWIS NEIDLINGER. EDWARD GRANDMASON.

